 Former Financier Convicted  Robert E. Brennan, who built a financial empire selling penny stocks, was convicted of money laundering and bankruptcy fraud.   PAGE B1

INSIDE

Robert E Brennan, financier who built empire and lavish style of living selling penny stocks on television in 1980's, is convicted in federal court of money laundering and bankruptcy fraud; he is released to custody of his lawyer and bail revocation hearing is scheduled; federal sentencing guidelines call for sentence of more than five years to maximum of 10 years; photo (M)

Former Financier Is Guilty of Money Laundering and Fraud

Cleveland Cavaliers defeat New York Knickerbockers, 80-78; photo (M)

Knicks' Poor Effort Weakens Standing

 ARTS    FICTION: ''The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,'' by Michael Chabon.

The Pulitzer Prizes

Convergence of image science and information technology has given rise to $225 billion 'infoimaging' industry; business is so varied that no on company can dominate and stifle innovation; Eastman Kodak has put its name on Lexmark inkjet printer; Hewlett-Packard markets digital cameras; Xerox Corp is introducing self-service kiosk to incorporate photographs into documents and Polaroid is developing wireless printers; charts; graph; photos (M)

One Tool, Many Functions; Words and Pictures Are Combined to Form A New Industry

Lawrence K Altman article recalls working in 1960's as officer in Epidemic Intelligence Service, corps of medical detectives in agency now known as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; service investigates disease threats wherever they occur; chronology of major investigations and events of Epidemic Intelligence Service (L)

A Correspondent Recalls His Days as a Medical Sleuth

Bond prices drop sharply and yields rise as investors continue selling spree triggered by expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts; yield on Treasury's two-year note has risen third of percentage point in last six trading days, and is approaching 4.5 percent; yield on Treasury's 10-year note has also jumped third of percentage point and is now at 5.25 percent; analysts do not attribute flight from bond market to any significant change in outlook for economy; graph; chart on US key interest rates (M)

Bond Sell-Off Continues as Investors Reel In Expectations of Fed Cut

Lee Bong Ju of South Korea wins Boston Marathon; Catherine Ndereba of Kenya win women's division; Lee's time is 2 hours 9 minutes 43 seconds and Ndereba finishes in 2:23:53; photo (M)

Ndereba Outshines Fellow Kenyans

Continental Airlines reports earnings decline to $9 million in first quarter from $14 million in first quarter of last year; revenue rose 7.6 percent, to $2.45 billion; industry overall is expected to show net loss of $570 million for quarter, first such loss since early 1995; Continental's revenue per seat rose 4 percent while industry as whole is expected to remain flat (M)

Amid Gloom, Continental Beats Forecast

 Cisco Issues a Warning On Its Sales and Earnings  Offering fresh evidence that economic growth is slowing sharply, Cisco Systems said that its sales and profits were falling far short of expectations. Cisco, whose stunning success in the 1990's mirrored the rise of the Internet, cited a worldwide economic slowdown as the reason for its problems.    ''This may be the fastest any industry our size has ever decelerated,'' John Chambers, the company's chief executive, said in a statement. In a conference call later, Mr. Chambers compared the slowdown to a 100-year flood. ''We never built models to anticipate something of this magnitude,'' he said. [Page A1.]

BUSINESS DIGEST

Special report, Healing A Hospital, describes how one community hospital tackled its severe financial problems and stayed open, at time when most of nation's hospitals are ailing and many are closing; Armstrong County Memorial Hospital in Kittanning, Pa, 186-bed facility, hired turnaround expert as interim chief; he cut all salaries, dismissed some workers, reduced employees' time of by one vacation week and one holiday, and started search for new chief executive; new chief executive quickly hired financial analyst to clean up hospital's books; contracts with doctors were reviewed and tightened and bills to Medicare and managed care companies were checked for accuracy and completeness; number of board members was halved and those remaining were given training course in governance and strategic planning; new board hired salaried doctors to operate primary care centers around county, and those doctors referred many patients to Armstrong; many of moves have been painful and difficult, but result is that hospital has run surpluses in three of last four years, after losing $2.2 million in 1995; photos; graphs (L)

HEALING A HOSPITAL: A special report.; Alternative Medicine for Ailing Institution

Article in series, The Census, describes population trends in suburbs of South and West; finds rush to suburbia has begun to slow everywhere but in Midwest, for variety of reasons; census analysis and other demography studies show that suburbs have taken one of two contrasting regional paths that are thought to be redefining nature of suburban life; in West, where land and resources are not available for further growth, former suburbs have filled in and reached urban-level densities; in South, with few natural barriers to growth, many suburbs have detached themselves from old-fashioned central anchor and became, in effect, suburbs without urbs, free-floating patches of population density tethered loosely to interstate highways; map; charts; graph (L)

90's Suburbs of West and South: Denser in One, Sprawling in Other

Turkey's currency, stocks and bonds rise on expectations that government economic program announced by Economy Min Kemal Dervis will win financial support from International Monetary Fund and other lenders; photo (S)

TURKEY: PLAN ENCOURAGES MARKETS

Smithsonian Institution angers conservationists and alarms scientists by announcing plans to close Conservation and Research Center near Front Royal, Va, which is part of National Zoo and is internationally known for its work training conservation scientists and restoring endangered species (M)

Smithsonian Plans Changes As Biologists Cry Disaster

Growing number of high-achieving, well-off students are taking time off before heading for college; with competition for admission to top colleges fiercer than ever, many students finish 12th grade burned out on books and begging for alternatives; others are frustrated by rejections from elite colleges and seek time off and adventures that might help improve their applications; increasing emphasis on globalization and experiential learning, as well as technology that makes finding opportunities and keeping in touch from far-flung places both easier, also helps spur trend; 'gap' year has long been common in Britain; in Israel, military needs of country require service in armed forces before university, providing seasoning for young; now some American guidance counselors and college admissions officers are promoting notion that higher education works best for those who wait; concept of interim year gallivanting abroad is largely province of privileged, and most American college freshmen come directly from high school; photos (M)

Before College, Year Off Beckons to Well Off

Harvey Araton Sports of The Times column, discussing how times have changed, notes that New York Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams has taken time off to spend with his father, who is very sick; manager Joe Torre remembers playing through any and all dire personal problems or family emergencies; photo (M)

Sports of The Times; Williams Will Know What to Do

New York Mets defeat Montreal Expos, 4-3; photo (M)

Finally, Mets Find A New Team To Beat

Deadly Israeli airstrike on Syrian radar installation deep inside Lebanon unsettles Arab world just as Israel receives first Arab official to visit since Prime Min Sharon took office last month; Foreign Min Abdallah al-Khatib of Jordan arrives in Israel with peace proposal, as Palestinian mortar fire strikes deeper into Israel than ever before, and Israelis respond by bombarding Palestinian security installations in Gaza Strip; Israeli officials say airstrike in Lebanon, first on Syrian target since 1996, is warning to Syria and not invitation to further conflict in region; Arab officials view strike as unwarranted and potentially destabilizing aggression by Israel; Syria puts its 35,000 troops in Lebanon on high alert; White House accuses Iranian-backed, Syrian-abetted Hezbollah guerrillas of deliberately provoking Israel by killing Israeli soldier; it does not endorse Israeli retaliation; photo; map (M)

ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE DEEP INTO LEBANON UNSETTLES ARABS

Boston Red Sox defeat New York Yankees, 4-1; photo (M)

Red Sox Run Yanks Out of Town

Harley-Davidson Inc says registrations of its motorcycles in Japan rose 7.6 percent, to 9,467 units, in 2000, while overall market for motorcycles with engines larger than 750cc fell 0.9 percent, to 44,161 units (S)

JAPAN: HARLEY-DAVIDSON GROWS

Ben Brantley reviews revival of Beth Henley's Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy Crimes of the Heart, presented by Second Stage Theater; Garry Hynes directs; photo (M)

Granddaddy Is in a Coma, And That's the Good News

Enviromental groups and state officials start to focus on landfills and other shore areas contaminated by PCB's; state records show more than six times as many PCB's were dumped on land as in Hudson River and, while not as dangerous on land, there is concern that they are seeping into groundwater and may be leaking into river; 13 of approximately 40 dumping sites within 40 miles of Albany have been designated as significant threat to public health or environment by State Dept of Environmental Conservation; could become huge liability for General Electric, which dumped chemical and is now waging public relations war against dredging Hudson River; photo (M)

PCB Worries Are Spreading From Hudson To Its Shores

Bank of Japan describes economy as being in 'state of adjustment,' amid flagging exports and slowing production; assessment represents downgrade from bank's view a month earlier (S)

JAPAN: ECONOMIC OUTLOOK WEAKENS

South Korea admits defeat in skirmish over imports of garlic from China, agreeing agrees to buy 10,500 tons of Chinese garlic and send delegation to China to defuse tensions; China stopped buying polyethlene and mobile telephone handsets made in South Korea last July after South Korea raised garlic tariff from 30 percent to 315 percent; Korean manufacturers estimated they lost $100 million of sales to China in 40 days tariff was in effect; Japan moves to apply exclusionary tariffs on some Chinese farm produce, to protect powerful farm lobby; imports of shiitake mushrooms and igusa straw, used in tatami mats, have each doubled in period (M)

Mushrooms With Garlic And Tariffs

Scientists step up their efforts to monitor changes in environment around North Pole, including chilling of high stratosphere, shifts in movement and temperature of surface air and sea water and apparent thinning and shrinking of milling cap of ice floating on Arctic Ocean; changes match computer predictions of how frozen north could respond to buildup in atmosphere of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels; team encamped at very top of world has embarked on ambitious five-year effort to take pulse of polar air, ice and ocean depths; drawings; charts; photo (L)

Polar Puzzle Inspires Extreme Acts of Science

Shin Ryu-jin, known mononymously as Ryujin, is a South Korean rapper, singer, and dancer. She is a member of the South Korean girl group Itzy, formed by JYP Entertainment in 2019.

April 17, 2001

Headlines from April 17, 2001

INSIDE

Former Financier Is Guilty of Money Laundering and Fraud

Knicks' Poor Effort Weakens Standing

The Pulitzer Prizes

One Tool, Many Functions; Words and Pictures Are Combined to Form A New Industry

Billboard 200

Until The End Of Time

Hotshot

Everyday

Part III

No Angel

Notable Births

Historical Context for April 17, 2001